Happy Birthday, Byakuya!
by empole0n
Summary: Byakuya has never celebrated his birthday before, so he doesn't see the point in starting now. His friends, however, think much differently.


**A/N: Uploaded a day late, wrote this to celebrate Byakuya's birthday. It's not edited or anything so there may be mistakes, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.**

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Assumptions were deceitful, unconfirmed and more often than not turned into rumours. Byakuya thought this as he got out of bed and glanced at the clock. Just because he was an heir, this did not mean he was impervious to tiredness.

He had set his alarm rather early so he would wake up at a decent time. He didn't want the Togami family name to get a bad reputation on his behalf. God forbid.

It was nearly 7:50AM when Byakuya was finished getting ready. Dammit. He could have slept in for a few extra minutes as he checked the screen of his iPad. Makoto had commented numerous times he would be lost without his iPad. It had everything from doctor's appointments to his friends' birthdays.

Birthdays.

He glanced at the date on his iPad again- May 3rd. He had thought it had seen something familiar. Today was his birthday. Growing up in the Togami household had been lonely. His siblings had been shunned after he had proved victorious and became the heir to the Togami family, but even if they hadn't been shunned he was pretty sure they would ignore him anyways.

If he was being honest that had a lot to do with why he had such a bad attitude and hardened demeanor growing up. He felt rejected, like no one wanted him, not even his own father. He didn't know who his mother was. His father was always out on business and trying to expand the company, leaving little time to spend with his son.

Didn't they owe him? He had proven victorious over his fifteen siblings. Over all fifteen of them, surely that counted for something, right? He had learned early on that, no, it counted for nothing.

To be blunt, his birthday meant nothing. It was never celebrated and he hardly ever acknowledged it. He didn't really see the point, no one else had eve celebrated his birthday growing up, why start now? It had simply become just another day. He grabbed his black briefcase and decided to leave for work early, it seemed to be a better option than standing around feeling pathetic. Byakuya Togami was the Ultimate Affluent Progeny; it was simply _not_ in his nature to feel inferior at all.

The Future Foundation had become something rather huge. After all, they had restored most of the world to its proper order after The Tragedy. While there was still a lot of work to be done (_**A LOT**_) they had done a decent job so far.

He took the elevator to the fifth floor where he, Makoto and Kyoko worked. Hagakure, Toko and Fukawa worked there as well, but their skills were required elsewhere. They were better with the clients and doing the face-to-face work. Kyoko and Byakuya were much better with the behind the scenes work per say, and while Makoto would have probably been good, great even, talking with clients and helping people out he ended up working on the fifth floor with Kyoko and Byakuya.

It was funny how things worked out.

He had finally reached the fifth floor and he stepped out of the elevator and headed down the corridor to their office. It was pretty big and accommodated the three rather well. While at first he had sneered, he had grown fond of the place.

He turned the knob, and realized he was in pitch-black darkness. He fumbled around for the light on the wall, not knowing where it was. The light would usually came on as he walked in seeing as it was motion sensored.

Annoyed, he let out a groan and muttered "What the hell…" under his breath. Suddenly the lights came on and he was about to say "Thank god", but was interrupted by a chorus of, "Happy Birthday, Byakuya!" He turned and saw his friends/co-workers were crowded around a table and there were several snacks and even a cake.

"When did you-?" Byakuya began, but was interrupted by Genocider Jill- Genocider… he thought to himself, annoyed that she was even here. Of course her presence had become tolerable but it still irritated him- he much preferred Toko to her.

"W-ell you know how you always show up super early, so we just showed up even earlier and prepared all this stuff. I didn't bake the cake so you don't have to worry about it knocking you out. I definitely would have put something in it so I could take you away to my room and-"

Thank god her sentence had been stopped short by Makoto, "Kyoko and I baked the cake. Aoi frosted it." He smiled.

Byakuya was shocked and wasn't sure how to react to such kindness. The five people who stood before him were the only other five who had been through what he had been through. They had faced despair together- no; they had _defeated _despair with hope together.

He crossed his arms over his chest and gave a small smile, "This is very unexpected. What flavor is the cake? I hope it's not chocolate."

Kyoko simply replied, "Vanilla."

Genocider was standing near Byakuya, but he had learned to block out her presence.

Byakuya still saw himself above saying thanks, but he did offer a genuine smile to the group of people that were around him. He decided to let them indulge in a small fact as gratitude instead, "I have never celebrated my birthday before." he admitted.

Everyone knew better than to reply with "sorry's" or "that's awful". They knew that Byakuya was the last person who wanted to be pitied or that they should even think about pitying.

"Please tell me you have at least had sweets before." Aoi said in disbelief.

At that, Byakuya let out a laugh along with everyone else. "Yes, I've had sweets before." he answered simply. "How would I know that I prefer vanilla to chocolate if I had not?"

Hagakure took it upon himself to start cutting slices of cake while the rest of them socialized and nibbled on snacks.

Makoto watched Byakuya- he had a grin on his face as he spoke with the rest of them, and even though he may not have come right out and said it, he knew that he was thankful for what they had done.

At the end of the workday, Byakuya was leaving the building, but saw Makoto was a couple paces ahead of him. He called out his name and Makoto turned and waited for Byakuya to catch up.

"Listen Makoto, I didn't want to mention this in front of the others…" he began slowly, "But I appreciate the party a lot. I have no doubt in my mind that it was your doing." He had played with the idea that Toko or Genocider had insisted it, but knew that she wasn't all that thoughtful.

"We all pitched in." Makoto said with a smile. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."

Byakuya nodded in response as they boarded the elevator.

The rest of their journey to the first floor was in silence when Makoto suddenly said, "How come you never celebrated your birthday before?" he asked.

Makoto- he was still nitpicky and ever nosy, Byakuya thought. Instead he just crossed his arms and shook his head, "Curiosity killed the cat…" he said. After that, Makoto figured he wouldn't answer him, so he dropped it, but Byakuya continued, "… but satisfaction brought it back."

As they exited the elevator and walked towards the doors of the front door he said, "My father was always away on business. My mother- I don't know who she is, which you have probably already deduced. Anyways, my siblings didn't want much to do with me after the battle to be heir. Who could blame them though? My victory had essentially sentenced them to exile."

Makoto took this in and said, "Well, I hope you know that we're celebrating your birthday each year from now on."

Makoto could have sworn he saw a smile on Byakuya's lips.


End file.
